Viber: Free Calls over Wifi & 3G ~ My Digital Life

This is a guest post by my dear friend Nitin Gupta, a practicing Radiologist in Melbourne, Australia. He is an avid iPhone user and is going to share one of his discoveries on Apple Appstore.

One of the biggest achievements of the 21st century would definitely have to be the fact that you can never feel alone anywhere in this world, be it in the middle of a metropolis or far away on a deserted island. This is mainly due to the strides made in the field of communication. Distances don't matter any more, well they do only if you are stuck in traffic, in which case even the shortest of trips seems endless! But it is fair to say that your voice can reach even those places where even your imagination can't! Remember it used to be the other way round a few years ago? Although communication is great, it can be a bit expensive, especially if you are calling overseas. A big step in reducing call costs is VOIP. What started off as free computer to computer calls, has now diversified into computer to phone calls, and now even phone to phone VOIP calls! Isn't it funny that you use a phone to call another phone, without using a phone line.. well technically! Talk about progress. from wired phone lines, to cordless phones, to cellular mobile phones, to no phone line! That's all good as long as you are ready to pay for your calls.. BUT how does the idea of international phone to phone VOIP calls which are absolutely free sound to you? Yes you heard it right. Free calls from your iPhone to any iPhone in the world! And this is done through a new iPhone app called "Viber".

If you have Viber on any two iPhones anywhere in the world, you can talk free. It works if you are on wifi. It works wherever your iPhone can detect a 3G signal. And the voice quality is great too, although you may notice a slight difference in quality between wifi and 3G but in my experience it's marginal. Add to that the fact that Viber SMS is also free all around the world! Works just like a normal SMS sent from iPhone. The layout is exactly like the iPhone so using is quite intuitive. If you can use an iPhone, you can use Viber. Moreover, once you install the app it automatically looks into your address book and gives you a list of people who already have Viber on their phones and you can start calling instantly. Be sure to read the privacy policy before installing if you are worried about such apps spying upon you. There has been a concern about privacy issues regarding Viber which seems to have been honestly addressed by Viber management but as always, use your own discretion. Presently it is only available for iPhone but their website states that they are soon going to develop it for Android OS and Blackberry as well. Just be patient you apple critics!

Ok, lets compare it to Skype, the most successful VOIP system in the world, probably used by every computer owner in the world. Excellent voice quality, good connectivity including any phone in the world. But try making international phone calls though that and all your laughter will vanish in a second. Or shall I say in a ring! Because it's not free. That is the whole point of difference friends. Secondly, for Skype to work on an iPhone you have to keep it running in the background while with Viber you can get push notifications for calls and SMS even when it is not running in the background. Of-course, if you want to call a landline or a non supported mobile or make video calls, Skype still rules the roost. For video calls you may try Tango Video Calls as a Skype alternative which works on 3G also, available for both iPhone and Android OS.

I would recommend you to try it out and see for yourselves. You can always delete it if you are not happy. Afterall its free! Aahh, if only all things in life were that easy? Free to try..try..and delete! Don't get the wrong ideas folks! And don't forget to share your experience with Viber in the comments.